


Micah's Magical Menagerie

by SandriaC (SandrC)



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Micah is a precious babbu, OC-centric, Transcendence AU, mentions of my OC, other people's ocs, praised the based haber
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-10 12:10:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4391396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandrC/pseuds/SandriaC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Micah Forrest was given his first odd pet at a young age. After that it was only natural that he would go on to help Transcendental beings later in life. And he owed it all to Alcor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Setting the Stage

**Author's Note:**

> Micah belongs to [haberdashing](http://haberdashing.tumblr.com).

Micah Forrest was often affectionately referred to as the ‘Supernatural Steve Irwin of the South’ and he had earned that nickname. When he was almost eleven years old, he was given a screaming lollipop named Dave by the great demon Alcor. Ever since then he had a fascination with supernatural creatures. As he got older, his supernatural pets went from simple candy-eating creatures to domestic fairies to a gryphon that had lost its hind leg to a trap. Eventually his parents set their foot down and refused to let him get anything larger than a kelpie—which narrowed down Micah’s prospective pet pool significantly—but Micah continued to care for various injured supernaturals in the greater Joneboro area.

When Micah was fifteen, he got his first job at the local animal shelter. He helped out with every dog and cat that came in but it just wasn’t the same. He liked helping out the supernatural creatures that came to his house and the woods nearby. Eventually he moved from that job to a job working part-time at the local Habitat for Transcendence Entities–or HTE–where he helped feed and care for a good portion of relocated supernatural beings that had either encroached on rules that had been laid down or had lost their home to development pre-equal rights movement. There he showed his prowess with all beings magical. He was the one who managed to get the baby Hide-Behind to actually eat. He was the one who kept the piskies from tearing apart the sprites that lived in the garden with them by laying down boundaries and making a deal here and there that was so expertly worded that a demon would have a hard time finding a loophole. He was the one who managed to convince his co-worker to remove the iron dermal piercings and jewelry that they wore on a daily basis. He eventually became manager of the HTE and soon the place flourished.

But he wasn’t satisfied. When he graduated from his local college with a double-major in Veterinary Medicine and Supernatural Studies with a minor in Business, he had been at the HTE long enough to realize that there were things that needed changing that the corporate heads wouldn’t allow. There should be more room and a wider range of biomes for the supernatural beings to live in, there should be less permanent residency and more temporary, there should be less forced stays and more rehabilitation. The whole system needed an overhaul, but the higher-ups wouldn’t allow it. (Not that they were Pro-Nats or anything, just that their hands were in some conservative pockets and they didn’t want to upset their funding.) So Micah did the sensible thing and quit to start his own sanctuary.

Funding it was the easiest part of the whole deal. There were plenty of equal rights people who gladly funneled the money he needed into his crowdfunding page, plus he qualified for and received the Durai Kavari grant for his project due to the fact that he was using it to help displaced and injured supernatural beings. It was finding the land and getting the permit that was hard.

He fought for almost two and a half years to get a permit. It took him a year to get the land he needed and another three months to even get the place up to snuff before he felt happy about the looks of the sanctuary. Then there was the hiring period and making sure he had the right staff. After that there was a waiting period for the government to “get back to him”–-though he knew that the Georgia Supernatural Rights Department was fighting him every step of the way and deliberately taking their sweet time to get someone out there to check out the facilities. When someone finally checked the place out, Micah was pleased to hear that not only did he meet expectations for a sanctuary and rehabilitation center of that size, but he exceeded them. After that it took a few meetings with the Supernatural Rights Department, the Supernatural Animal Control Department, and the local Soup Squad to negotiate terms of arrival and departure. Micah also set aside a few hundred thousand that he had saved up during his time at the HTE to expand the facilities if need be. In October of that year he opened his doors for the first time.

Soon the place was overflowing with all sorts of creatures and beings that had been thrown out of their home or were deemed “too aggressive” to continue to live alongside humans. Micah and his staff helped even the most aggressive of nixies to either become more placid in their dealings with humans or to come to terms with their new home until they could find a remote enough location to house them safely. His dream had been realized, but the hard work was far from over. Not everyone was pleased with Micah’s new place and they were planning on causing a ruckus as soon as they saw one little slip-up. They were just waiting in the shadows and soon they would strike with the precision and venom of a basilisk.


	2. Chapter 2

Micah wiped sweat from his brow and sighed, looking back at the work he had done. Ten rows of Yggdrasil had been harvested and he still had another five to go. “Farmin wasn’t what I expected when I started this but…ah well.”

“Talking to yourssself again, Micah?” The Georgian started at the sudden appearance of someone other than him in the fields.

“Better habit than most,” he retorted.

His snark was met with a hiss of laughter. “True; but, talking to yourssself while harvesssting Yggdrasssil might not be ssso good.”

Micah pursed his lips in thought and nodded, “Fair point. I’ll raise ya this though: if I have an audience, is it still talkin to myself?”

That won him a full peal of laughter. “You win. How can I begin to compete with your sssurefire wit?”

“Poorly, though ya make good company Heather.” Micah laughed as well, finally turning back to his work, shoveling deep into the ground to dislodge the stubborn plant.

His Gorgon companion walked up next to him and rested a scale-dappled arm on Micah’s back. “Oh I am ssso honoured,” he drew out the vowel in ‘so’ as well so that Micah got the full brunt of his sarcasm. “But I didn’t jussst come here to be your audienccce, asss much asss I love hearing you talk.” Micah snorted but continued hacking away at the Yggdrasil silently. After a long pause, Heather frowned and pulled his arm off of Micah’s back. “Aren’t you going to asssk why I’m here then?”

“Yeah, nah. I figured ya’d tell me soon enough.” Micah dug up the root he was working on and moved to the next in the row. “Besides, you bein one of the few people here who ain’t affected by Yggdrasil I just figured ya’d come to take some and tease the Courtless with it.”

Heather’s serpent locks drew their heads back, conveying the surprise that couldn’t be read from behind his mirrored shades. “Never thought of that,” he admitted.

“Don’t.”

* * *

 

Heather laughed again and shook his head, his corn-snake cornrows rippling with excitement. “I won’t then. No, why I came here isss sssimple: the sssphynxxx isss acting up again and Jesss couldn’t deal with him becaussse, well, you know.”

“Ah yes, the moon sickness.” Micah stopped what he was doing and drove his shovel into the ground next to his current work. “Well'p, d'ya think I can trust harvesting what’s left of the Yggdrasil to ya?”

Heather shrugged, “Asss much asss one can trussst another to finish a tasssk.”

“Here’s my gloves then. When ya’ve pulled up a whole row, just drop them all into the 'barrow and wheel them to the shed. I’ll leave the sortin and processin for later. Ante always visits on Thursdays anyway so it’s best to hold off until then.” Micah dusted off his hands and removed the heavy leather gloves, handing them to Heather, who took them with a heavy sigh.

“I’ll do my bessst. You go deal with that sssphynxxx. He ssseemsss far too on edge.” Heather donned the gloves and got to work as Micah waved a happy goodbye and walked towards the sphynx’s home.

As he walked through  _his_ shelter—the thought still made his heart flutter at the mere mention of the fact that it was  _his_ –he took in the sights and sounds around him. There was the warbling cries and caws of the shapeshifters who preferred corvid forms to human ones, the chatter of the fair folk–each clan in their own sector to avoid small wars, and even the rumbling snores of the nocturnal beings housed here. It was a glorious place where all sorts of Transcendental beings could learn to adapt and, should they struggle with adapting, a place where they could stay and be safe from bigoted assholes.

Another thing he liked about his shelter was that he had employed a handful of terramancers and other such magic-manipulators to simulate the Transcendentals home biome in chunks and spaces. They still had to be in gradients from hot to cold and from arid to swampy because otherwise the magic would fritz out more frequently and bioshaping of that quality requires a lot of upkeep already. The spynx’s area was actually a tunda biome all her own–as she was the only Transcendental rescued that even needed a tundra biome–and Micah could feel the biting wind from where he was,  _way_ back near the more temperate climates.

The sphynx–whose name Micah could not remember at the moment–was a newer addition and a bit of a troublemaker. Once a ‘domesticated’ Transcendental that was kept in a Pro-Nat zoo until he could be hunted for sport, he never really learned how the world outside his small cage worked. He didn’t like staying in his biome, tended to get in fights with the more avian members of the shelter,  _ate_  one of the clan MacDowan, and on one occasion, even terrified a group of orphaned cervitaurs by stalking them for fun. What made it even harder is that he was not your average Egyptian sphynx, with the lions mane and tawny fur. No, he was a Canadian lynx sphynx, with a horseshoe shaped mane and tufted ears. Unfortunately he didn’t seem to inherit the stereotypical Canadian politeness and was a complete asshole with unrepressed predatory instincts. Nobody had bothered to teach the sphynx about give and take when he was young, and he sure as hell wasn’t willing to learn now.

“I hear yer causin’ a ruckus again,” Micah said.

“Back the fuck off!” The sphynx hissed, flashing his claws at him and baring his fangs. “I don’t need you  _or_ your smarmy-ass shit!”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because I fuckin  _don’t_!” He hissed again and it was then that Micah saw the blood flecking his face and paws.

His eyes hardened and he stepped forward. “Now I was told that you were causin’ trouble but I wasn’t told what kind. Ya’ve got blood on ya.  _Whose_?”

The sphynx seemed confused by the sudden change in posturing. Normally, from what he had seen of Micah, he was generally a very happy person, full of life and glee. Now? Now he was radiating anger and the sphynx could smell the hell that might be unleashed. Still, who was this schmuck to tell him what to do?

“None of your damn business, rock boy.”

Micah was next to him quicker than the sphynx thought possible. He started as the human grabbed the sphynx’s ear and yanked him down so that he was eye-level with Micah. “ _Whose blood is that?_ ” He hissed. Finally the sphynx was afraid.

“She was asking for it, I  _swear_!” He pawed the ground, trying to break free of his surprisingly strong grip.

Micah saw red. “ _Who_ was askin’ for it?”

“Th-the pretty little kit! She was taking a stroll and she smelled  _so good_. Her body  _begged_  for relief!” The sphynx struggled to get away from Micah, his whole body screaming  _danger! Get away! Flee! Predator nearby!!_

Micah thought about who the sphynx could have been referring to and immediately came up with the answer. “ _Soo-jin_.” She was one of the three female Transcendentals that had been rescued from a prostitution ring disguised as a circus, a kumiho. She had gone into heat yesterday. His face hardened and he grabbed the sphynx by the scruff of the neck.

“I think…,” he said slowly, metering his words, “that you may have t’find a new home. Rather,” he continued, clenching his free hand, “I think you ’n I will hafta see an artificer about getting you a shifter.”

The sphynx’s eyes widened and rolled, showing terrified whites. He bared his fangs and trilled in fear.”No! Not a shifter! I don’t wanna!”

“You can’t behave yourself, you can’t control yourself, you can’t stay in your home–”

“This isn’t my home!”

“–so the only way t’help is t’force you to assimilate.” Micah was calm now, which was scarier than him being pissed off. It was calm and quiet but there was a bubbling range beneath his even breaths. “I worked hard to get this place running and sometimes I get people like you who need tough love. That’s just a necessity.”

“I don’t wanna wear a shifter! I don’t wanna do that! I never got to do anything anyway! She nearly tore out my guts!”

He continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “So you n’ I are gonna get you a shifter and then you’re going to wear it until you know how t’act around other people, regardless of their age, gender, or species. When you’ve learned your lesson, then we’ll talk about taking it off.” He let go of the sphynx and the Transcendental scurried away and climbed one of the conifer trees in his biome, just out of reach. “I’ll be back later with assistance. You can either come without a fight, or I can have them restrain you and we’ll drag you there kicking and screaming. I tolerate a lot of things, but rape is not one of them.”

With that said, Micah turned around and left, simmering with anger. Whether or not the rape had actually happened was unimportant. The whole point of them being here was to allow them to readjust to being in the company of humans and other Transcendentals. If their response was like this spynx’s, to revert back to feral law, then a rough hand would have to be applied, no matter how much it bothered Micah.

Still…the next thing would be to check up on Soo-jin. If what the sphynx said was true, she probably was hanging out with the maenads like she usually did when she was angry. He had to make sure she was taken care of and that her heat was under control. After that was a visit to the artificer to get a shifter for the sphynx–preferably with a smaller form than the sphynx would like. Then he would go back and help Heather with the rest of the harvest.

Running this place was hard but damn if he didn’t do his best.


End file.
